The Biggest Car in the County celebrates debut album with concert

The Biggest Car in the County is challenging the norm and breaking new ground for original music in Southeast Missouri.

In an area where bands playing covers tend to dominate the scene, Biggest Car is building a following of faithful listeners with its blend of roots country and rock 'n' roll original music.

The band will reward the faithful and the new fans with its first full-length album, "Ain't No City" at a CD release party today at The Yacht Club, upstairs at Port Cape Girardeau. There is no cover charge for the show, and CDs will be available for purchase. After the show, "Ain't No City" will be available at all of Biggest Car's shows as well as P-Mac Music in Cape Girardeau.

The show will celebrate the album and the hard work it took to create it, but band members say it is also a thank you to everyone who has supported the band in it's short existence. Biggest Car will perform every song on the album, and will share the stories that inspired the tunes on the album.

Biggest Car in the County is Erika Beasley on vocals, guitar and tambourine; Josh Tomlin on vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin and harmonica; Joe Ettling on guitar; Lucas Auer on bass and vocals and Andy Palmer on drums. The five members bring together influences from many genres to create Biggest Car's sound.

The band's influences range from opera to metal. Beasley studied vocal performance at Southeast Missouri State University and finds inspiration in the work of Patsy Cline. Ettling has a collection of rock and metal that inspires his guitar work. Auer was into the techno scene growing up, and then developed a taste for punk bands like Operation Ivy. Tomlin cites influence from artists like Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins as well as 1960s-era groups like the Beach Boys.

"My favorite band of all time, to a fault, is Drive-By Truckers," Tomlin said.

"Ain't No City" captures all of these influences, and the 12 tracks on the album are designed to transition from one to another, taking listeners along for the ride.

The album was recorded and mixed at Brandon Drury's Echo Echo Studios in Scott City, which has produced albums for several area bands.

Drury's "equipment is top-notch, and for the money, he does incredible work," Tomlin said.

"He kept a positive attitude through the entire process," said Beasley, referring to Drury. "I never felt like anything was a hassle."

Though Biggest Car has only been around for a couple of years, several of the songs on "Ain't No City" predate the band by several years.

"The first song I wrote, 'Kelly's Song,' I wrote when I first learned how to play guitar seven or eight years ago," Beasley said. "Kelly is my sister, and is the inspiration for a lot of my work."

Tomlin said the band members usually write their own parts.

"Basically, any song you hear Erika singing, she wrote at least the lyrics for, and the same with me, but the entire band has a part of the music," Tomlin said. "Everyone brings their style and influence to each song."

A fan favorite that makes an appearance as track No. 8 is "The Corporal's Brother," a song written about Jackson natives Cpl. Jeremy Shank and his brother Chris. Jeremy Shank was killed at age 18, shortly after being deployed to Iraq.

"I was living in Columbia in 2006 in this little apartment, and I got a phone call from another friend telling me that Jeremy was dead," Tomlin said. "I came home that weekend for the visitation and to play with a bluegrass band at the SEMO Fair."

Tomlin said he knew Jeremy Shank peripherally through Chris Shank, his brother, whom he'd known since second grade.

"Seeing that kid at 18 in that coffin in his dress blues? I didn't think I was going to be that emotional, not knowing him that well, but I was torn up," Tomlin said. "The next week when I got back to Columbia I started writing 'The Corporal's Brother,' which is basically about Jeremy but has come to be about any kid that goes to war."

"I think we get more positive feedback from that song when we play in places we've never been before," Ettling said. "We'll play that song and people we don't know, people who have never heard this music before will clap and cheer."

In their short existence, the Biggest Car has played around Missouri, and intends on reaching out to new fans as much as possible.

"We all talked about what 'making it' as a band means to each of us," Auer said. "And we're planning on sending the album out to labels. We'd love to get on some tours with bigger bands. I'll be more than happy to see that happen, but we're not quitting our day jobs."

The CD release party will be at 8 p.m. today. For more information, visit Biggest Car in the County on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheBiggestCarInTheCounty.

Pertinent address:

Port Cape Girardeau, 19 N Water St, Cape Girardeau